A pastor from Brackettville, Texas deduced that deep-seated bitterness has led 18-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos to massacre the 19 Robb Elementary School students and their two teachers on Tuesday.
Texas Pastor Points To Problem With The American Heart
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, First Baptist Pastor YJ Jimenez pointed to the reality of children being left unchecked on their emotions and the tragedies they faced growing up. Jimenez, whose parishioner lost a grandson in the Robb Elementary School mass shooting, cited the Bible's Cain and Abel as a point of reflection on what happened.
"I see these things happening across the country. I think we're looking at the wrong things...When I look at those things, I see what's happening in the human heart...I'm looking at throughout America and I see that there's a heart problem...anger can be deep-seated, maybe for this person who committed this act, there's a deep-seated issue there," Jimenez said.
Jimenez elaborated that there can be an initial event that happened in a person's life during childhood. He said what has been happening in the country--pertaining to the series of mass shootings--reveals an issue that has not been dealt with in the hearts of young people, such as abandonment and abuse while they were growing up.
"Rage, when it happens, manifests itself into all things--we see road rage, we see all kinds of divorce, we saw family violence. All these things are issues of the heart. We're failing to deal with those in those children," Jimenez reiterated.
In line with this, the pastor expressed hopes that people will reach out to the young people "to see what their troubles are."
Also Read: Glenn Beck Blames 'Rotting in Our Soul,' Not Guns, for Texas School Mass Shooting
Evangelist Agrees With Texas Pastor On Root Cause Of Violence
Samaritan's Purse President Franklin Graham, in reaction to Jimenez, affirmed that America has a heart problem. Graham agreed to the truth spoken by Jimenez regarding Ramos and perpetrators of violence. The evangelist invited the public to listen to the interview, which he highlighted was filled also with truth and comforting words for the victim's family and all those affected by the tragedy.
Graham reiterated the verse Jimenez cited in John 10:10, which he used to console the victims and to explain to them that such violence and tragedy were never caused by God who has always desired man to have a joyful life.
According to The Washington Post, Ramos was a shy person who was often bullied growing up in Robb Elementary School because of a language impediment. Ramos' childhood friend, Santos Valdez Jr., said their friendship ended when Ramos' behavior deteriorated. Valdez cited an incident Ramos admitted knifing his face several times--as though a cat clawed it--just for fun.
While Stephen Garcia, who became Ramos' closest friend in eighth grade, described the latter as the nicest and most shy kid he had known. Garcia expressed disbelief upon hearing that Ramos was behind the Uvalde shooting since he thpught his friend could never hurt anyone. The 18-year-old recounted how everyone including family bullied Ramos for stuttering whenever he spoke on top of having a lisp. He said that things did change a lot with Ramos over the years especially when his mother changed jobs and he had to relocate to his grandparents.
Ramos, who was killed as local police secured the school, reportedly announced in social media his plans to wage war in the school, just like he did before shooting his grandmother in the head. Ramos' grandmother is said to be critical in a hospital and holds the missing information that prompted the youth to commit a violent streak on Tuesday. Ramos reportedly shot his grandmother first before he crashed his car near the school, shot people in a nearby funeral, and jumped into the school grounds to execute his plan.
Related News: Interfaith Protest To Be Held For Uvalde Gun Victims
